


All's fair in love and war

by LaughingGaster666



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Competition, Gladiators, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 03:37:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13227297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingGaster666/pseuds/LaughingGaster666
Summary: We've all seen pokemon doing the battling with human giving them the orders. But what happens when pokemon can do both roles?





	All's fair in love and war

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on a simple "what if?" question I had. I always thought that pokemon would be much more interesting without humans involved, which was the main inspiration for this fic. I hope you all enjoy!

In a world without humans, the Pokemon civilized themselves. Without human trainers, the Pokemon looked towards themselves as leaders. Countries were created and civilizations were established.

 

Our story begins somewhere in a vast ocean, where four islands were lead by one emperor. Here, Pokemon were united under one nation to protect themselves from foreign invasion. Here, Emperor Ares III the Aggron and Empress Domitia the Charizard ruled the lands. They denounced the evils of piracy and thievery. Pirates looking to cause trouble here would have to surrender now or prepare to fight! 

 

Right as I was writing, I heard a knock on my door. “Phobos, brother, are you there? We have to go soon, the tournament is today and we need to get ready!” called out a voice belonging to my twin brother, Crown Prince Deimos. He was a Charmeleon, just like me. He got lucky and his egg was lain 5 minutes before mine was, so he was next in line for the Empire after Ares dies or abdicates to him. 

 

“Er, just a second!” I said as I put my journal away. Looks like my writing will have to wait a bit. Oh well. I was looking forward to being a part of this tournament anyway. I had noticed a vulnerability in the rules that I was more than ready to exploit. While I wasn’t entirely sure how effective it would be to try it out, I wouldn’t have much of a chance of winning without it anyway, so I might as well try something a bit crazy. While Father may not be pleased with my cheap tactics after this tournament ends, (especially if he loses to me!) I had already committed to it anyway.

 

After getting dressed in my royal attire, I exited my room to meet up with Deimos and my parents for breakfast. “Morning” I said as I took my seat at the table. “Morning son” Ares and Domitia greeted in reply.

 

After a few bites, I noticed there was a bit of… tension coming from my brother and father. It looked as if… Deimos was attempting to stare our own father down? Ares was doing a great job at ignoring it though.

 

Eventually, my mother got tired of it. “Deimos, staring at your father intently doesn’t work unless your ability is intimidate. Now will you please focus on eating your food?” she said, clearly annoyed.

 

“Sorry mother.” Deimos said quietly. Ares didn’t react, but I’m pretty sure he was trying to hide a smile now.

 

I knew I shouldn’t butt in, but it was too tempting. “Don’t worry mother, I’ll make sure this nonsense ends when my team kicks both of their asses today.”

 

The table immediately got quiet. “... Is that a challenge my son?” Ares asked. 

 

Phobos used Taunt! It’s super effective!

 

“Indeed it is father. That is, if you and Deimos will accept my challenge?” I replied.

 

“Psh! First you’ll have to make it out of the prelims little bro!” Deimos pipped in.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ve… got a plan this time.” I say, leaving it vague.

 

“A plan?” Ares asked.

 

“That’s enough from all of you! Save this for the games. Until then, I would like to enjoy my breakfast in peace. Is that too much to ask?” my mother raised her voice, clearly annoyed at us for getting incredibly competitive before breakfast was even over.

 

“Sorry mother.” Me and Deimos said in unison. Yes, twins really do talk at the same time occasionally.

 

“Sorry love.” My father said.

 

“There will be plenty of time for petty trash talking once the blood starts spilling. Until then, I’d prefer we act like a functional family.” my mother said. Nobody else said anything, and breakfast was shortly over.

 

“I’ll see you all later then. Good luck you three! I better see at least one if not two of you in the finals!” My mother called out before us men left. And with that, we were out of the palace and on the way to the Coliseum.

 

The trip to the Coliseum was fairly standard. A few big burly fighting type Pokemon carried myself, Deimos, and Ares in litters, even though it was just a short walk away. Why? Because royalty. Sometimes the royal treatment was just a bit too much in my opinion. I always felt bad for the servants carrying Ares. He weighs about 500 kilograms for goodness sake! 

 

After we arrived, we went to our teams to get ready. I had on my team a Mimikyu, Greninja, Salamence, Mega-Lopunny, Weavile, and a Skarmory. It wasn’t exactly filled to the brim with A-grade pokemon, but I couldn’t afford the top-tier stuff like Magearna or Greninja-Ash. Oh well, I still had my secret weapon.

 

My gladiators were looking good. I couldn’t wait to start. This was a seven round tournament. In Alola, each of the four islands holds a grand gladiator tournament each Summer. Simply winning one of these tournaments was a big deal, with the four winners being known as “The Elite Four”. The four winners of these tournaments would then face off against each other in a month, where one would win the title of “Gladiator Master”. There would be one round a day, and the first two rounds were just preliminary. The real fight starts at the third round.

 

Ares was the favorite to win, which made sense. In his 27 year reign, he had won 4 times, and made the Elite Four 9 other times. As Emperor, he could afford to outbid any of us when it was time to buy new gladiators. He could free any gladiator he wanted as a way to inspire the others to work harder, and it didn’t make a difference to him financially.

 

After doing the prep work and checking to make sure my team was ready, I checked the bracket. It looked like I would face Deimos in the semi-final if we both made it that far. Ares was outside of our half of the bracket, so I’d have to make it to the finals if I wanted to face him.

 

“Do we get to face off right off the bat?” Deimos called out as he walked towards me.

 

I shook my head. “Not until the semis. Looks like you’ll just have to wait.”

 

Deimos then looked at his bracket and frowned. “Shit.” he said.

 

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Maybe he had gotten some old guy with actual military experience or one of the wealthier dukes on the island. It didn’t sound like a favorable matchup.

 

Then I heard an older voice behind me. “Excuse me boys. May I look?”

 

Deimos and I turned around. It was a Clefable. I could tell she was certainly wealthy with her rather expensive looking dress and accessories. Clothing in the Pokemon world was a sign of wealth, since going nude was the norm for most Pokemon.

 

Deimos and I stepped aside. The Clefable then looked at the bracket. She looked familiar… but I couldn’t remember where I had seen her. Then I noticed Deimos try to quietly tip toe away before the Clefable noticed that they were fighting in the first round. 

 

Unfortunately for him, father had found us. “Hello boys. Good day, Duchess Helena.” he said.

 

“Emperor Ares, it’s always a pleasure.” She said with a short bow.

 

Then she noticed us again. “And these two must be your sons! I haven’t seen them since their mid-evolution party. That was quite a night, I must say. You always did know how to go all out Ares.” 

 

Ares blushed a bit and looked to the side. “You flatter me. Really, it was Domitia who was so insistent on going the extra mile with that sort of thing.”

 

I noticed that Helena flinched a bit at “Domitia”. 

 

“Well, it was great to see you all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready.” She said before leaving in a huff.

 

“... I don’t think she noticed that I’m her opponent for this round.” Deimos said as we walked away, leaving father behind. 

 

“All I noticed was her spazzing out after dad said the d word. Notice how quick the conversation ended right after dad brought mom up?” I point out.

 

“She’s just a jealous bitch. It’s what they do Phobos. Did you see how blatantly she was flirting with dad? It makes me want to beat her even more now!” Deimos said with a angry grunt.

 

“You better win bro! By the way, why were you all concerned when you read her name earlier?” 

 

The anger and confidence from my twin brother quickly deflated. “Um… she… kinda knocked me out of two tournaments in a row. I’ve never beaten her.”

 

“Two in a row?” I ask while trying not to let my disappointment be too obvious. Both of us have only been Charmeleons for three years, and been in about a dozen gladiator tournaments of various levels.

 

“Whatever! I’ll beat her this time!” Deimos said, the confidence returning.

 

“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.” I say as we take our seats. As the Emperor’s family, we got some the best seats in the whole Coliseum. Mother was sitting on the throne since father couldn’t act as an emperor residing over the tournament due to him participating, so she had to fill in for him. 

 

After a while, Ares came to join us. A little bit later, the first match started. At the end of each match, mom would give a thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate whether the losing team of gladiators would be spared or killed, as is tradition. It had been a long, long time since we were at war, and the environment was mostly peaceful at this time, so it was pretty normal to spare the losers nowadays. I had heard that it was common to kill the losers a long time ago, back when the first emperor was in power and war was common, but that was hundreds of years ago and Alola was mostly peaceful in present day, and the crowd wasn’t all that thirsty for blood right now anyway.

 

Matches came and went until it was my turn. My family wished me good luck before I went down to get ready. Was I nervous? Of course! I was about to attempt one of the craziest strategies in gladiatorial gaming history!

 

Me and my gladiators then entered the arena. Our opponent was some Count by the looks of it. Nothing fancy, but I still needed to watch myself. His team consisted of a Volcarona, Gengar, Garchomp, Excadrill, Serperior, and an Azumarill. 

 

The referee did a quick recap of the rules. This was a singles battle format, and the first to KO the opponent’s team was the winner. 

 

“Begin” The referee said.

 

“Mimikyu, you’re up.” I say. Mimikyu followed my orders and hopped on to the battle area.

 

My opponent sent out his Excadrill first. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was probably going to try and set up stealth rocks first. Unfortunately for him, I was going to shut down that plan.

 

Meanwhile, back with the royal family on the sidelines…

 

“Dad, just what the hell is Phobos doing sending Mimikyu out so early? It’s a late game setup sweeper, not exactly a good pokemon to lead out with.” Deimos asked Ares.

 

Ares shook his head. “I have no idea what Phobos is doing right now. Especially since Excadrill is such an obvious choice for a lead. And that steel matchup vs a fairy is not at all favorable for him right now.” Ares said.

 

Deimos looked back at his brother down in the battlefield “What the hell are you doing little bro…” Deimos whispered to himself.

 

Back in the fight now… 

 

“Excadrill! Stealth rocks now!” My opponent yelled.

 

“Mimikyu! Use attract!” I yelled out.

 

Just before Excadrill got his rocks ready, he saw the sly look my female Mimikyu was making. Excadrill immediately stopped thinking as he fell in love with Mimikyu, hook line and sinker. 

 

The crowd was pretty shocked at my choice of a first move. Nonetheless, I continued.

 

“Mimikyu! Swords dance now!” I yelled.

 

“Excadrill! Stop falling in love with Mimikyu and use iron head this instant!” My opponent yelled, clearly annoyed at my attract strategy.

 

Excadrill was too busy staring at Mimikyu to be bothered with anything else right now. Meanwhile, my Mimikyu was getting attack boost after attack boost with swords dance.

 

After the third swords dance, Mimikyu was ready.

 

I grinned. Looks like this strategy was actually going to work after all.

 

“Mimikyu! Use shadow claw!”

 

All of those swords dances paid off. With all those attack boosts, Mimikyu’s shadow claw ripped through Excadrill. The poor guy didn’t know what hit him as the pokemon who was seducing him knocked him out in one blow.

 

“Excadrill is unable to battle.” The referee announced.

 

Seething to himself, my opponent sent out his next pokemon. “Gengar, stop this madness now!”

 

Not a bad strategy really. Gengar is definitely faster than my Mimikyu under most circumstances. What a shame that I hadn’t shown my Mimikyu’s full movepool yet though… 

 

“Mimikyu, use shadow sneak!”

 

As with all priority moves, it happened pretty quickly. Gengar was fine one second, then he was KO’d the next.

 

Four more one shot KO’s later, I had won my match 6-0. Not only had I won, but none of my pokemon had taken any damage at all! I was pretty proud of myself. My mother gave the thumbs up to spare my opponent’s gladiators, and that was that.

 

I returned to my seat with my family. Deimos didn’t bother hiding his surprise at my gameplay. “ATTRACT!?! Seriously bro?!? What on earth inspired you to use that strategy?” he asked.

 

I shrugged. “I just got the idea from a storybook I read. In the story, an Alakazam used attract on his opponent before setting up a few calm minds and blasting his way to victory. It was pretty cool.”

 

My father laughed a bit at that “I swear, you kids these days. Getting your ideas from whatever you see…” he trailed off.

 

My mother didn’t say anything, but I think I saw a bit of a smile on the edge of her lips.

 

I turned my head to Deimos “So, how did the crowd react to it all?” I asked.

 

“Let’s see… first they were just confused, then a bit bored when you took forever with the swords dances, but then there was some laughing when it was clear you were going to sweep it 6-0. I know I was laughing at least.” Deimos explained.

 

“But don’t get too cocky son. You realize the vulnerabilities in your strategy right?” Ares chimed in.

 

“Yeah, I know it’s far from perfect father.” I replied.

 

“Huh? What’s wrong with his strategy? As long as the genders are opposite…” Deimos began to say before he realized it too. “Ohhhhh… yeah, I can see how that might not always work.” 

 

“And it doesn’t work at all on genderless pokemon, like Mew for example.” I pointed out.

 

“Oh yeah, that too.” Deimos said. “Still, it’s at least a unique strategy that nobody’s really tried before. At the very least, people won’t be familiar with how to counter it.” Deimos said.

 

I nodded in agreement. “This will definitely be an interesting tournament.” I said before going back to watching another match.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, there's a lot of inspiration from the Roman Empire for this story. I thought it fit in well with Pokemon. I considered making this an actual series, but I'd hate to commit to one since I'm already taking an eternity for my other story right now. Maybe I'll do a proper Mystery Dungeon story in the future, but for now, I'm satisfied with doing just a simple one shot.


End file.
